All's Fair in Love and Merit
by maple the wacky tree
Summary: Kyouya rejects yet another confession, and quite frankly he's getting fed up. A girl calls him out on his heartlessness, and for the first time, it bothers him a lot more than it should. "A cold person like you is incapable of love!" onesided kyouXharu


**A/N:** Just a quickie, because I had this mental scene of Haruhi and Kyouya together in the music room for a while now. To all my kyouXharu fans, did you miss me? It's been a while, hasn't it? I hope I haven't lost my touch (even though I wrote this pretty quickly) ^^

There's been another disaster. A few of my loyal reviewers messaged me and told me that yet ANOTHER retard has copied and posted my work under a different fandom. This time it's even worse. The person didn't even bother changing the title. If you search "The Anniversary You'll Never Forget" on this website, you'll see hers/his and mine side by side, completely identical except for names. This makes the third ouran fic that someone's stolen. I suppose I should feel flattered, but quite frankly I'm getting sort of sick of it. If you guys could do me a favor, could you review this person's fic anonymously and tell her/him what's what? Or if you really love me, can you join with me in reporting this person. I know it's just fanfiction, but it's still pretty obnoxious when someone copies your work.

And if anyone ever dared to copy my "Crystal Clear" fic . . . oh there would be HELL to pay. :O

Sorry about bringing down the mood guys. Here's some fluff to make up for it.

* * *

><p>There was nothing left to say. Kyouya snapped his black binder shut and turned on his heel, callously ignoring the girl's tears. It wasn't his concern. Several precious minutes had been wasted, after all.<p>

"Hold it!" someone called, walking out from behind a door. Kyouya stopped and sighed as he looked over his shoulder, completely disinterested. Oh, so the secret admirer didn't even have the courage to confess without a friend rooting her on. All the more reason to turn the girl down.

"You don't have to be so cruel about it!" the new girl snapped, going up to comfort her sobbing friend. "And Miki admired you so much too—!"

"And you assume what I'm looking for is admiration?" Kyouya stated, his voice hard. "I ought to buy a puppy in that case. I'm sure it would be more beneficial."

The girl bristled. Kyouya realized that he recognized her as the heir to the Arukawa Resort chain, Miss Arukawa Nana. She had much more spirit than her friend, and without fear she charged straight up to Kyouya and glared at him.

"Don't think I haven't heard of you, Ootori-sempai," Nana retorted. "All the girls fawn over you because you're intelligent and have a cool persona, but I'm not fooled. You're completely heartless and obsessed with numbers."

"Nana-chan," Miki began, clutching at her friend's sleeve, but Nana shoved her off.

"You work at the host club, but in reality you aren't charming and you have no sincerity. You can't even sympathize or feel anything. You just stand there, breaking a girl's heart every week and then not even blinking!" Nana accused hotly. "In the end, it's just about the merit that every calculated move brings you. You're incapable of loving."

Kyouya finally faced the strange girl full on and adjusted his glasses. "And, pray tell, what exactly is wrong with living for merit?"

Nana's dark eyes flashed, and she looked about ready to slap Kyouya. "Just because you're an Ootori . . . rich bastard!" she spat.

At those words, Kyouya's eyes widened a little. For the first time, he took into account Nana's round eyes and her short black hair, almost short enough to be a boy cut. He cleared his throat and left them, ignoring how Nana shouted to him the entire time and the pathetic Miki just tried to calm her friend down.

* * *

><p>"Mind if I sit here?"<p>

Kyouya's finger froze on the keyboard. He normally would have been more irritated at an interruption, but the sound of the soft voice soothed the agitation.

"Haruhi, out of all of the sofas and chairs in this room, why on earth would you feel the need to sit here?" he asked coolly, but without impatience.

Haruhi pulled up a chair and sat down regardless, shrugging. "I have a bit of a headache. I didn't get much sleep last night because I was studying for midterms." She folded her arms on the table and rested her chin on them. "I thought that your cold aura would prevent the twins or Tamaki from coming over here, so naturally it would be the most ideal place."

Also strange. Those blunt words stung a lot more than usual. "It's not as if I'm the devil's secretary," Kyouya stated, trying to focus on the computer screen. "I'm human too."

"Yeah . . . but tell that to the other guys, Mr. Shadow King," Haruhi said, and the corner of her mouth turned up a little at that.

At that, Kyouya's fingers were typing twice as fast, trying to drown his mind in numbers and letters and any other figure that would keep his mind busy. But his focus was jarred whenever one of the other hosts wandered over to find Haruhi, and then shrunk back when they saw Kyouya at his laptop.

Quite frankly, he was losing his patience.

Once he had finished the host's accounting, finalized the last of his ten page essay, and had edited his older brother's presentation for tomorrow's meeting, Kyouya leaned back away from the laptop and stretched. He looked over at Haruhi. She was completely still and hadn't moved an inch in the past twenty or so minutes.

Kyouya propped his head up with his elbow and said, "Haruhi?"

She didn't respond. She was too lost to sleep.

Everyone else had left, and the room was silent. Half the lights had been turned off, and the tables were all cleared. Without meaning to, Kyouya thought back to today's latest confession and Nana's accusations. Though he heard her voice, he saw nothing but Haruhi's peaceful face.

"_In the end, it's just about the merit that every calculated move brings you."_

"_And, pray tell, what exactly is wrong with living for merit?"_

"_You're incapable of loving!"_

Absentmindedly, Kyouya lifted his right hand from the keyboard. It felt a little out of place there, hanging in empty air. After a brief hesitation, he placed his hand on Haruhi's head. He slowly stroked her brunette hair, which was just beginning to get a little longer. Then he brushed her bangs out of her face. He smoothed the wrinkles on her forehead, curved around her gentle cheek, and paused on her lips. Wordlessly, he waited there, watching her. They were such thin lips, lips that almost disappeared when they parted in a smile. But they were soft.

"_You're incapable of loving!"_

"I wonder about that," Kyouya murmured, finally removing his hands and packing up his laptop. And he was not quiet about it either. Haruhi began to stir, and she lifted her head drowsily.

"Wha?" she mumbled.

Kyouya shouldered his bag and said curtly, "How rude, Haruhi. Slacking off on your job and making the rest of us clean up the place when it's your week."

"EH?" Haruhi exclaimed, sitting bolt upright and looking around at the empty room. "No way. How long was I out?"

"Approximately 30 minutes."

"Crap," she hissed to herself. Warily, she glanced at Kyouya. "You're not going to add it to my debt, are you? For having to clean up?"

Kyouya's glasses flashed, his face turned unreadable. "I suppose not," he mumbled, and Haruhi instantly relaxed, only to stiffen again when he said, "I _was_ going to leave the mess for you to clean after you woke up hours later, but the twins volunteered since they felt bad for giving you a headache. So thank them later." And Kyouya walked away, his footsteps echoing in the quiet.

"You wouldn't do that, Kyouya-sempai," Haruhi stated clearly.

"And why not?"

"Because you're too nice for that."

Kyouya paused. After a moment, he turned around. Haruhi smiled peacefully at him from the table. "You wouldn't have left me asleep in here alone either. That's why you stayed so long after club duties today, and why you were so noisy when you were putting up your things."

"Haruhi," Kyouya said slowly, and before he knew it he was walking back to her table.

Haruhi blinked at him and cocked her head. "What?"

When he had reached her, Kyouya leaned down right in front of her face.

_Heartless and obsessed with numbers . . ._

The close proximity made Haruhi squeak and lean back a little. "From sleeping in one place for too long," he explained, "you have a red mark." Kyouya pinched her left cheek. "Right there."

When he touched her, her whole face turned red. She jerked away from his hand and rubbed her cheek. "Well . . . it happens sometimes. I can't help it," Haruhi muttered in embarrassment.

Kyouya chuckled and straightened. "If you hurry up, I'll walk you out. But you better not waste my time. I'm going to be late enough as it is." Haruhi immediately jumped up and hurried to find her bag. "And you must make it worth the effort as well," Kyouya called after her, enjoying this too much.

"Where's the merit in bossing me around all the time, Kyouya-sempai?" Haruhi gasped, dashing about to collect her belongings.

Kyouya cocked a small smile, one that Haruhi didn't see.

"Trust me. There's plenty."


End file.
